New Nourish Bowls from Mash Direct offer healthy lunch option

Mash Direct in Northern Ireland has launched Nourish Bowls, an innovative and healthy lunch-time meal solution especially for the expanding 'eat on the go' and snack markets.

The company, an award-winning specialist in convenient and healthy vegetable 'field to fork' side-dishes, has just launched an initial three varieties of Nourish Bowls - Taste of Italy, Taste of China and Taste of Morocco - in 380g clear packaging at £2.99 each. The new range is currently available from SuperValu, Centra, Mace, Nisa and independent stores. Discussions are underway to extend sales to major supermarkets in Britain.

Taste of Italy features brown rice risotto, butternut squash, courgette, peas, quinoa, baby spinach leaves, mixed beans with a separate pesto dressing. Taste of China comprises spiralised butternut squashes, courgette, pickled carrot, sugar snap peas and rice noodles with a separate hoi sin dressing. The Taste of Morocco features a separate harissa dressing with spiced cauliflower bites, hummus, beetroot, chargrilled cauliflower florets and diced sweet potatoes. All three are gluten-free in keeping with the company's existing 40-strong range.

Creating the concept of the Nourish Bowls came from consumer feedback at food shows throughout the year. The company is among the most active from Northern Ireland at trade shows in Britain and further afield.

Jack Hamilton, Mash Direct's new markets and marketing director, says: "We have found that people want a healthy lunch option that they can pick up off the shelf or even eat on the go. All of Mash Direct's products are gluten-free and don't have any red traffic lights, so, our customers know that they are eating a product that they can trust is good for them.

"The best thing about these Nourish Bowls is that they offer relief from the normal, boring sandwiches at the work desk and they help consumers achieve their recommended portions of fruit and veg for the day."

Based on a family farm at Comber in county Down, Mash Direct is a market leader in vegetable dishes and convenience meals. It was launched by Martin and Tracy Hamilton on their farm in 2004, the first product being mashed potatoes.

The company, winner of last year's prestigious Food Manufacturing Excellence Award and a host of UK Great Taste Awards, has also launched Beer Battered Chips, the only product of its kind available on supermarket shelves. This is the first time the company has added chips to its consumer offerings in 13 years of trading.

Mr Hamilton continues: "People have always asked us, "Why don't you do chips?". It is a company policy of ours not to have any red traffic lights on any of our products and so we wanted to make a chip that was crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside without having a high fat content.

"By creating a gluten-free, beer batter to lightly coat the potatoes, we are able to create an innovative chip that's completely different from others available in the market place and still stay true to our roots. These chips have been years in the making and we are proud to have waited so long to bring them to market because we think they are perfect!"

The batter for the chips includes beer from a craft brewery in Belfast. The company, which draws fresh ingredients from its own farm and others the county Down, employs over 200 people and has a developing export business in Europe, including the Republic of Ireland, as well as to the United Arab Emirates.